Did Trotsky believe in a workers' state without a bureaucracy?
The emergence of a privileged, parasitic bureaucracy, as I documented in *The Revolution Betrayed*, is not an inherent feature of a workers' state but a symptom of its degeneration, particularly under conditions of isolation and backwardness. The initial October Revolution established a workers' state, but the Stalinist bureaucracy usurped power, stifling workers' democracy and pursuing unprincipled compromises on the international stage. True workers' democracy, with extensive control and criticism from below, is essential for the health of any socialist state; its absence signifies a profound crisis and the potential betrayal of the revolution.
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